Page 103

Chloe reached her hands to me. “Then, drive me, cowboy. I’m fine—probably fine—but if you want to put your money where your mouth is, do it.”

I helped her stand. “I will then.”

In a few minutes, we were on the road, silent as I drove towards the hospital.

“I need to go to Northshore and labor and delivery,” Chloe said quietly.

“I know you do.”

“How do you know everything?”

“Because I have done this before. Because Brynne had a nasty spill on some ice when she was pregnant with Piper.”

“Oh.” She looked at her stomach, cupping it. “Okay. Thanks for making me go.”

“Of course. Chloe, I know you think you are doing this alone, but you have a lot of people who love you...”

My voice faded. I just implied I loved her. And maybe, in some odd, aspirational way I did. I know I adored her. I longed to breathe the smell of her perfume. I would have given anything to spend a night holding her in bed—even now—but the timing sucked, and this wasn’t helpful.

“Cole, I need to tell you something and it might hurt. So, can you pull over?”

“Chloe, my job is to get you there⁠—”

“Pull the fuck over!” Chloe roared.

I pulled into a grocery store lot and turned to Chloe—now white as a sheet.

“Cole, I lied to you. About this.”

“You’re not pregnant?” I asked, confused.

“No! I am… I definitely am. And I cannot believe no one is seeing it.”

“Okay. Then what?”

Eyes locked, she murmured. “It’s yours.”

The words shook me. It was mine? The baby was mine? I was out of words. I stared at her stomach, hear her tears, and could barely form thoughts. I needed to speak up. I needed to tell her everything. I longed to wrap her up in a hug and promise I’d be there, but her body language suggested she didn’t want that.

“I’m sorry. It was the night on the couch after the second storm. I didn’t try to trap you—I’m not. I should have told you, but I decided I would do this all alone and… it doesn’t have to affect you.”

“Affect me?” I asked. “Chloe, it’s my baby. It already has!”

“But no one needs to know you are the father. Almost no one knows right now. And if they do, they think it was a sperm donor. You don’t have to⁠—”

“Chloe, it’s my baby,” I repeated, confused.

“Yes. We know that, but I don’t need you to be responsible for it. That’s my point. I don’t think that’s the best thing. I just saved you the pain.”

“Yes, the pain of knowing that you've been pregnant with my child for months and just decided that lying to me was better!?”

"I did it to protect you... and Piper⁠—”

“This is not the way, Chloe!" I said, voice sharp.

I set my jaw and put the truck into gear. Chloe began sobbing. I wasn’t sure what to say or what I felt. Was I speechless because I was brokenhearted? Was my silence due to betrayal from her lies? Was it just shock? No matter what it was, I didn’t have any other way to show my emotions beyond doing what I needed. I approached the on ramp towards the hospital.

Chloe sniffled, “Cole, just drop me at the hospital and I will take care of the rest. I appreciate you driving me.”